Bye Bye, Mullet!

See, I told you I'd have more interesting things to post about this weekend! ( ; Today we decided the mullet just had to go. I realized I was choosing Quinn's clothing to minimize the mullet, and that meant things had gone too far. So, we went to Andy's hairdresser at Big League Barbers, and Quinn did wonderfully! He watched t.v. and looked at all the sports stuff. We only cut the back and sides, and honestly, it looks like it did when he was 10 months old. I was so dreading "the big boy" look, but it really just looks more little baby again. Still, it was a big milestone, and as my sticker calendar shows, there just aren't too many baby milestones left, so this was important.

And here's the dancing video. These aren't his finest moves because it was right before nap time, but I thought I'd just take it while I thought of it. My dream is for Quinn to be on my favorite summer reality contest, "So You Think You Can Dance" someday. Just kidding (kind of). (:

Why not?

What do you do on an unseasonably cool, rainy afternoon? Have Daddy push you around in a diaper box, of course!

It's been awhile since I posted, so I apologize to those who faithfully check this blog! We are doing well; we just aren't doing anything too blogworthy. We did have a very nice visit to Papa Bruce's house on Sunday. Quinn is obsessed with basketball and all things ND, so he had an especially wonderful time going there!
Quinn has learned all kinds of new things in the last week or so, one of which is he knows two letters on sight--Y and B. Why those letters, you ask? Well, because those are on the lids of Yobaby yogurt, of course, which is Quinn's favorite treat. (: He has started linking words together to make short "sentences", which is fun because it shows us even more the thoughts he's having. And guess what my little hip-hop baby's favorite, favorite song to dance to is? I shouldn't admit that his precious little ears have heard this song, but he heard it one time, ONE TIME, and now always asks for "low low". That's right--his favorite dance song is "Low" by Flo Rida. Please don't think badly of us as parents for letting him listen to it! ( : I'll try to post some video of the moves he's got to that song.
That's our update. Hopefully after a nice, warm Memorial Day weekend I'll have some more exciting pictures to post. (:

Please be praying for this family. Tyson and Leslie are Taylor grads and they have a little boy, and my heart just breaks for all they are going through. Their testimony to God's faithfulness is beyond words. Please pray for them.

http://forleslie.blogspot.com

Mother's Day weekend

Mother's Day itself was a rainy day, so after church, we spent most of the day just bumming around the house. It was a low-key day, but I still was able to reflect on how much richer my life is now that I'm a mom. Andy taught Quinn to say, "Happy Mama Day!" which was a great gift. Quinn continues to blow me away with his personality and his knowledge. I know I'll have to always stay on my toes to help him learn and experience as much as he can, and that's a very fun challenge! Being a mom is the best . . . I highly recommend it! ( :

Cuddling on the couch after his first nap (he still takes 2 a day)

Saturday was a nicer day. This picture represents much of our time outside--waving to everyone (and everything) that goes by: buses, trucks, cars, birds, the neighbors, etc. Quinn is an extremely outgoing, social kid, and if you know Andy, you know exactly where he gets it from. It's not that I'm unfriendly, but the two of them seek out people to greet.

And here Q is "sniffing" the flowers, although it's really sniffing in reverse (blowing out instead of sniffing in). Oh well. It makes for a cute face. ( :

Sweet boys

an after-bath pic . . . i love my guys!

Q wants to be just like . . .

His daddy! Quinn pulled this shirt of Andy's and one of A's socks out of the clean laundry pile and brought it to me, saying, "Daddy on, peez!" We just cracked up at how cute he looked. He wore it around until I made him take it off because he was tripping over it. If Quinn wants to be just like Andy, that's fine with me! :)

It was so fun to see Quinn's Aunt Amy yesterday! Even with gas at almost $4 a gallon, she drove down to spend the day with her nephew. I told her she would be mightily entertained by him, and she definitely was! Thanks, Amy, for visiting!

Quinn LOVES books (Thank heavens, says his English teacher mom!) and sat down to read with Amy as soon as she arrived. (He's wearing a hat because he likes to wear them around the house sometimes.)

Being silly with Mommy's sunglasses.

I dare you to look at this picture and not laugh out loud! The Oh! face is still around, and as his face gets chubbier and more expressive, it cracks us up more and more.

And I have to comment on this picture. My friend Bethany, who has a son, and I have talked quite a bit lately on the whole nature vs. nurture gender stereotype debate. We laugh at how even though our kids have had equal exposure to "boy" and "girl" type toys, they naturally gravitate to "boy" toys, like trucks, balls, etc. Quinn is so attracted to machinery, such as trucks, planes, buses, etc, and can't get enough of playing with basketballs, footballs, bouncy balls, etc. He does have a baby doll, a boy, but he really isn't very interested in it yet, even though my niece, who is 6 weeks younger, carries her identical girl version of the doll all over the place. So, I bought him this navy blue baby stroller at a garage sale, mostly because he likes to push things around but also because I thought someday when there's another baby in the house, it will help him to adjust. So, I tried to put his baby doll in it--he immediately tossed it out on its head. What has he enjoyed pushing around? No joke--he loves to push around his footballs, and yesterday, I was cleaning up and found TWO REMOTES in the stroller!!! Does it get any more stereotypically male than that? This picture shows him pushing around a balloon, which is like a ball in his mind. Okay, sorry that was so long, but I had to share that because it just cracks me up! :)

Outside Pics

Boy, do I love having outside as an option for play time! It's crazy how fast time flies when we're just roaming around the yard. Today it was really cute watching Quinn mimic Andy mowing the lawn. I also pointed out all the dandelions in the yard (before Andy kills them all!), and we walked around sniffing them, picking them, and blowing the seeds.

Last but not least

Since I had my little camera with us at the game, the one with which I take videos to post, I thought I'd take some video while we waited in the car for Andy to get Subway sandwiches for dinner. This video is of Quinn, seeming mildly bored, running through his list of animal sounds. My personal favorites are his elephant and pig sounds. :)

Love My Daddy!

Walking back from the lacrosse game, Quinn got to hang out on Daddy's shoulders for awhile. I thought these were some very sweet pictures of my two favorite guys.

Lacrosse Game

Today we went and watched Aunt Carolyn coach her JV high school girls' lacrosse game. Quinn thought it was so cool that she let him hang out with her for a little while and watch the game up close. My sister is super busy all the time with everything, from being a special needs assistant to a barista at Starbucks to tutoring to coaching lacrosse. I'm really proud of her for how well she does it and balances it all.

Not too much to report from here. We're just doing our usual things: having play dates, playing outside, and enjoying guests who come to visit. After a weekend of wintery weather, spring should be sticking around for awhile. We definitely love playing outside.

Quinn is starting to cheese for the camera, as you can see in this pic with Daddy.

Cousin Fiona is walking now too, so let the good times roll! Here, they are playing at the water table at the Children's Museum.

Playing ball with Daddy . . . Thousands of hours will be devoted to this activity, I'm sure.

It was so fun to have Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dennis here. We didn't get any really good pics, but Quinn was so happy to see them.

Happy Days

Spring has finally arrived in Indiana! I've lived long enough to know that doesn't mean a snowstorm couldn't happen next week, but I choose to live in today's sunshine and not worry about those kinds of realities! Here are just a couple recent pics.


Why do I love being a mommy so much? Moments like these. During dinner tonight, Quinn reached over and put his arm around my neck for the longest time, just giving me love. It was long enough for Andy to get the camera and capture one of my favorite moments ever so far.

Little kid, big ball . . . In Quinn's world, the bigger the ball, the better. The majority of our time outside is spent walking around carrying, throwing, then chasing various balls. This one is his favorite.

We were so happy to see the lovely DeKorne ladies on Sunday. It was our first time meeting little Ava, and it was hilarious to see how much alike Q and Ava looked, although Q is a good almost 9 pounds heavier. (Quinn weighs almost 29 lbs, by the way. That's the 91st percentile, or as I call it, an A- in weight! ( : ).

I also really liked this shot of Quinn "watching" music playing on the stereo and dancing along (see the blurry hand?). His favorite cds right now are West Side Story and Music Man.

Fun Weekend

We had such a fun weekend! All three of us girls and our families went home to Illinois to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. My mom was in on it and brought him to the restaurant for lunch, where we were then all waiting. As you can see in the pics below, he was very surprised. I just have to say, isn't my dad so handsome?! You would never, ever be able to guess his age because he's one of those men, like Robert Redford, who seem ageless. And my beautiful mom is the same way! Happy birthday, Dad! We love you.

Sign of things to come

So, I've always hoped the driving age will be raised to at least 17 with LOTS of restrictions by the time my kids can drive . . . here's why. Quinn's Papa Bruce delivered this adorable Step 2 car, a hand-me-down from Andy's cousins, this weekend. Q LOVES his "beep-beep", as he calls it, and we were cracking up at his crazy driving.

Seriously, can't you just see him as a teenager, yelling, "What's up?!" and honking his horn at the ladies?! Yikes! We're totally going to be in for it! :)

Happy Easter!

We hope you had a wonderful Easter! We praise God for His grace and blessings in sending His son Jesus to die and take away our sins. Thankfully, He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Here are a few pics from today. Thank you, Grandma Mary, for Quinn's adorable outfit! I couldn't get over how handsome my little guy looked. The large bump on his forehead happened when he tripped and fell, of course right before we took pictures. :)

Checking out his first Easter basket. He loves playing with plastic eggs!

It was so fun to have Papa Bruce here for Easter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Since Quinn is a very Irish name, we can't let this day go unnoticed. Here are some pics of our little leprechaun in his very large hat, and one with his best friend Will.